Not Everything is Different
by LFVoy
Summary: A lot changed between 1944 and 2154. Alicia Travers discovers that some things are still the same, though. Very light Archer/Sato.


_Star Trek_ and _Star Trek: Enterprise_ are the copyrighted property of CBS Studios, Inc. This fiction item is intended for entertainment purposes only. No compensation has been received or will be accepted for it, and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended or should be implied.

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><p><strong>Not Everything is Different<strong>

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><p>It took her a moment to figure out the funny chirping sound. "Come in. I think."<p>

Her guess had been right; the door slid open to reveal a slim, petite woman in a uniform like the one Archer had changed into. But hers looked different; where Archer had gold stripes, she had teal, and she only wore one of the square insignia on her shoulder.

She held out her hand. "Ms. Travers? I'm Ensign Hoshi Sato."

Alicia's eyes narrowed. "Are you a Jap?"

The other woman didn't drop her hand, but her stance changed. "Yes, I'm Japanese."

"And Archer lets you on his ship?"

This time, the other woman did drop her hand. "I'm his communications officer."

Standing up, Alicia walked behind her. No weapons hidden behind her back. She moved to the middle of the room. "I guess we're not at war anymore, are we. My husband's serving in the Pacific theater right now."

The other woman – Ensign Hoshi? Ensign Sato? Hadn't Gordon said that Japs put their last names first? – followed her movements with her eyes, but stayed where she was. "Captain Archer said he had to put you into crew quarters pretty quickly. I came to see how you're doing."

"Fine," she answered. "Where are we?"

"This ship? Or this room?"

"Both, I guess. You called him _Captain_ Archer?"

"Yes, he's the commander of this ship. This is _Enterprise_. We're from 2154." The ensign moved to the window and indicated the view outside. "We're in space, orbiting Earth."

"Space? You're kidding, right?" But she followed her to the window. There was Earth, down below. It looked a lot different than the maps, but she could recognize the shapes of the oceans and the land.

The Asian woman sighed. "I wish I were. We still don't even know how we got here or how we'll get back to our own time."

"Which is two hundred years from now?" It seemed about as likely as them being in space, but then, there were a lot of things that hadn't make sense about Archer from the beginning.

"Yes," said the ensign. "The world is different for us."

"I suppose that means Americans and Japanese aren't at war anymore."

"No. That ended in 1945."

Alicia sighed. "Then I guess I owe you an apology. What do I call you again? Ensign Hoshi?"

"Ensign Sato, or just Hoshi if you want." She seemed to relax a little. "These quarters belonged to another ensign, Tricia O'Malley. We haven't had a chance to pack them up yet."

"Pack them up? Where is she?"

Sato looked away. "She was killed."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Curious, she looked at the table in front of the window. "Star Fleet? I guess we really are in space."

"We really are. Were you hurt in the fight? Can I bring you something to eat?"

"I'm not allowed to leave here?" Apparently they still had military secrets two hundred years in the future. In a way, that was comforting. Not everything had changed.

"I won't tell you that you can't," said Sato, "but it might be better if you don't. You could get lost, and not all of the crew knows you're aboard."

"Makes sense." Alicia looked out the window again. "I wasn't hurt. But it's been a long time since I've eaten. If you have something simple, I wouldn't mind."

"I can bring a sandwich and juice from the mess hall. Would you like anything else?"

"Is Archer coming back here anytime soon, or is he just leaving me to fend for myself?"

This time, it was the ensign's eyes that narrowed, though it was so subtle that Alicia wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been looking right at her. "He's catching up, and cleaning up. But he'll probably be back after that."

"Good. I'm not sure I want to stay here for the rest of the war."

"Don't worry. He'll make sure you get wherever you want to go."

There was something in her tone that had Alicia looking at her again, considering things differently this time. "You don't like that I'm here?"

Sato looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry. No, I'm glad you're safe and not hurt. I'm glad Captain Archer is okay. We thought he'd been killed too."

"Oh." Alicia sat down on the bed. It was surprisingly soft for military. "You missed him?"

She glanced out the window. "All of us did."

"But you especially, hmm?" That got Sato's attention, and Alicia mentally congratulated herself at figuring it out so quickly. "Don't worry. I'm married. You've got nothing to worry about."

"I wasn't worried." But a faint flush of embarrassment had crept across Ensign Sato's face. She moved for the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes. There's a bathroom through there if you feel like you need one."

_Interesting_, thought Alicia as the door slid shut behind her. _But she's a little young for him._

=/\= =/\= =/\=

She shuddered as they walked toward the dissolver-thing, which Archer and Sato had both called a transporter. "You're absolutely positive there's no other way?"

"I'm afraid there isn't." Archer was still in his uniform. "I know it seems strange. _I_ think it's strange. But it's perfectly safe."

"I suppose I have to take your word for it." They rounded the corner and were there. As she got up onto the platform, she kept speaking. "Your Ensign Sato is interesting."

To her surprise, Archer flushed brighter than Sato had. "Yeah, I guess she is."

"I liked her. Never thought I'd like a Jap. But it's good to see that times can change."

"Mm-hmm. You sure you want me to put you back down in New York? My offer to put you anywhere else in the world is still there." He paused, and a mischievous glint entered his eyes. "I could even send you on a visit to your husband if you wanted."

Alicia laughed. "And what, _swim_ all the way back to shore after they threw me overboard for not being in the Navy?"

His lips quirked as the flush faded. "Where do you want to go? Your apartment?"

"Might be the safest," she answered, her own smile dimming. Alicia found herself unready to let the light mood pass; it'd be gone soon enough once she was back in Brooklyn. "I can't help but notice you changed the subject."

Archer sighed and closed his eyes. "There was a bit of a – moment when I got back to the bridge a little while ago. Nobody said anything, but I know they noticed."

"A 'moment'? What does that mean?"

"Hoshi ran over and hugged me. Not exactly protocol." He shook his head. "She's always been a bit more emotional than most people, and she was with me on the weapon we destroyed. As far as she knew, I'd died right in front of her."

He'd told her about the aliens who wanted to destroy Earth, though it still seemed like something that would come out of a radio play. "Why was she there?"

"I needed her to decrypt the codes for disabling it."

"Ah." Alicia nodded knowingly, amused to realize that men could be just as clueless two hundred years in the future as they were in 1944. "You didn't take her because you wanted her close, then."

He flushed again. "I don't know what you're talking about."

_Oh yes you do_, she thought to herself, but she dropped the subject. She'd see him again later, when he came back down to get his men out of the Nazi bunker. There'd be more time for teasing then, and maybe she'd have a chance to point out that Ensign Hoshi Sato didn't seem to be the only one with a crush.

=/\= =/\= =/\=

But in the end, she barely had a chance.

"I guess we have to say good-bye all over again," she said as they prepared to retreat from the bunker. "It's harder the second time."

His eyes softened a little and he looked like he might touch her face. "I can't argue with that."

She thought about Gordon on his destroyer. About the Germans who'd taunted them. About how much she hated about guns and violence and war. Ensign Sato had said that the war was almost over, but it certainly didn't seem that way.

"I want my neighborhood back the way it was," she told Archer. "And my husband, I want him home. Fix all that, okay?"

This time, he did reach out to her. "I'll try. Thank you."

"Hey," said Carmine, roughly but not unkindly. "You're welcome."

Archer laughed and stood up, gesturing to his crewman and pulling out that funny radio. "Let's go, Trip. _Enterprise_, two to beam up."

The dissolver effect was starting, but Alicia couldn't resist. "Oh," she said. "And be good to Hoshi, all right?"

She decided that the look on his face would be the way she'd always remember him. It was nice to see that humans hadn't changed so much in two hundred years after all, at least when it came to the battle between the sexes.

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><p><em><span>Author's Note<span>: this fic uses some of the actual dialogue from "Storm Front, Part II," which was written by Manny Coto and directed by David Straiton. The character of Alicia Travers was portrayed by Golden Brooks._


End file.
